I thought it was, but exactly the same today, we were crying out for some direction.

Agree on Clark and Burgess, Havard and Bryne showing them up massively.

Can’t agree about Clark. Though he came on and was aggressive and looking for work.

The last Wakefield try evens up with that. The most blatant knock on a couple of plays back and Thaler looking the other way, deary me.

Same level of performance as the HKR/Salford games, pretty poor to say the least.
Not sure why we've gone backwards since Hudds away.

I thought Thaler was terrible. Managed to slow down a game that has a million rules aimed at speeding it up.

He was excellent 1st half at Salford and same again today. Also the same today though was that we made plenty yards first half and then not as many second half.

Not sure if it's a fitness thing or too many kids in key positions, but I fear that so far we will be the same as last season and will lose all of the big games.

The worry for me is Lam seems made up with these wins (KR and Today).

Imagine Wanes reaction if we served up that today under him.

I was amazed by his reaction at full time. I hope it was just a show for the cameras and in the dressing rooms some harsh words were said because it wasn’t good enough by a long way.

Let's not beat around the bush - we had plenty of these kind of results served up under Wane. He instead used to regurgitate the same "tough week in training" line, but week to week we saw very little change until it came to the playoffs.

We've not had a coach who demanded weekly excellence since Madge.

I was amazed as well, it does nothing for my confidence in him. It was a below par performance for the most part with glimpses of a decent side.

I’ll have it’s the first game back after a few months out but you look at the way Saints started last week and now they’re taking apart this Leeds side, who themselves are bang average, and I question whether that’s even a viable excuse.

Next week v Leeds will show what we really are IMO.

Think you’ve hit the nail on the head with that assessment. It’s the fact Lam either doesn’t see it or refuses to accept it which is worrying me. Looking at how Saints are playing now, if we’d have played them today we’d be talking 40+.

First game back, missing Gildart, Lockers, Flower and Partington, plus Leuluai for a lot of the game. I'll take any kind of win. Agreed Saints look a different class to everyone else though, as they did last year.

Typical Wigan. Get ourselves into a winning lead 22-6 with 60 minutes gone & then our game management just goes out the window. How many times have we seen it? Under Wane too I might add.

Just happy to get the 2 points
Tom Johnstone's try was special. Brilliant player

Well if we don't murder this Leeds side then it's time to wrap up.

They’ve struck gold with the break. The players have had time to get over the loss of Holbrook, the international tour and the WCC. It’s been a reset for them clearly and they’ll be tough to stop. I don’t think we’ve got the coach to challenge them tbh.

48-0!

Yes, we need to beat Leeds convincingly.

Plenty of room for improvement, but two points is two points.

Yes, lots of room for improvement.
I wish we had Watson as coach. It’s amazing what he repeatedly does at Salford, despite losing his best players every year.

Yep and that is what infuriated me at the time.

Was thinking the same watching there game, gets the most out of players mostly unwanted by other clubs. What would he do with a squad with more resources.

Liked some of the set moves Salford ran today.

The simple truth is that apart from French, Hardacre and Hastings, some of the more recent signings from outside the club are not up to the standard expected by Wigan supporters.

It is pointless keep producing good young talent from the Academy, unless the club more better class players to compliment them like we had when Madge was Coach.

Where are the Carmont, Deacon, Finch, Gleeson, Hoffman, Lima, Richards, Riddell, Roberts today?

I'm yet to see anyone mention Bibby?

I don't think this lad is anywhere near Wigan standard. The 2 tries that got Wakefield back in the game were both down his wing. Pre-Lockdown we conceded multiple soft tries down his side, where he simply can't make a defensive read.

His pace is lacking, his decision making and execution when attacking the line, well he gets it wrong nearly every time.

Looking forward to having Gildart back in the squad.

Overall don't want to moan too much. Wins a win, and in the first half in particular we showed really good game control. Lets build on that next week!

I thought Hastings had another indifferent game. He must touch the ball in 4 out of 6
plays but rarely causes any problems for defences.

Glad of the win but another non descript performance.

We need to put an end to Burgess working at the Muffin Man. He must be eating most of their pies. I think the guy is incapable of being fit for rugby be it professional or amateur

Personally thought Bibby went well.

Great try and linked nicely with Hastings, although at times like all our strike players he was too flat in attack.

We were definitely our own worst enemy in that game. When we got a decent lead we failed to capitalise on it because of some poor handling errors and some dumb last tackle plays (on the occasions when we actually managed to reach the end of a set). There wasn't much invention in our attack. A lot of what we did was one out drives. Whether that was a reaction to our errors and trying to keep it simple, or just not getting into the right field position to try anything, I'm not sure, but it was a fairly turgid and attritional affair.

I thought yet again Havard was our best prop. His carries, his tackles, his all round play. He's been outstanding so far this year. Compare that with Burgess, who was clearly our worst prop. Ineffective carrying the ball and sluggish in defence. Consider how much more Burgess is getting paid than Havard. 10 times more?

I can't be too critical of the positional changes as French was injured, and the change did lead to Hardaker setting up French for a try. I doubt we missed out on expansive attacking moves and thrilling play because of the switch.

While Hastings and Smith both made good contributions to set up tries the rest of their play wasn't quite so good. There's seems to be little understanding between the two. I'd be more critical of Hastings though as the more experienced player. He seems to go missing for long periods of games although he undoubtedly produces moments of outstanding play.

Bibby seems to be lacking in attack. It's been a tough year for him so I don't want to be too critical, and perhaps he'll just be a slow starter who comes good next season but we need to deal with this season first and right now it looks like neither Bibby nor Hankinson pose a credible attacking threat. He took his try well, but ultimately if your best moment of the season is driving very hard towards the line it's not going to make a great highlight reel.

Our pack is hard working but not exactly exciting or threatening. Farrell works harder than anyone but his attacking best comes from a half being on the same page and putting him through gaps. Isa offers nothing threatening on the other side. Most of our props offer hard work but not exactly the most effective of carries. Bullock is probably best in that department. Havard isn't too bad and will hopefully show more of what he's capable of in time. Byrne, Clark, Flower, Partington, Clubb - there's not really a dangerous runner or crafty offloader among them. The less said about what Burgess offers the better. I'm not saying our pack is poor - but I imagine a lot of teams find our play quite predictable.